The Skoda Rapid Style trim gets two additional airbags, making it totally four.

Skoda Rapid 4 Airbags
The two front side airbags bring in added safety for the driver and front passenger

Skoda has updated the Rapid mid-size sedan with two additional airbags in the top-end Style trim. Previously the Style trim featured only driver and passenger airbags but the Style trim in the 2018 model gets two front side airbags. The facelifted Rapid was launched back in November 2016 in three trims – Active, Ambition and Style with dual front airbags as standard. While the addition of two extra airbags is indeed a welcome move, two of the top three selling mid-size sedans (Hyundai Verna and Honda City) offer six airbags on the top-end variants.

The Skoda Rapid comes powered by a 1.5-litre TDI diesel motor and a 1.6-litre petrol engine. The 1.5-litre oil-burner belts out 108 HP of power and 250 Nm of torque while the 1.6-litre petrol is good enough for 103 HP of power and 153 Nm of torque. Both the powertrains are mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard but the petrol motor gets a 6-speed Tiptronic automatic gearbox while the diesel gets a 7-speed DSG automatic gearbox as optional.

Some of the other safety features on the Rapid are ABS, ESC, Hill Hold Control and rear-view camera with parking sensors. Prices for the sedan start at Rs. 8.31 lakhs for the petrol manual variant and go up to Rs. 13.56 lakhs for the diesel automatic variant (both prices, ex-showroom, Delhi).

Skoda Rapid Style

– Style trim of the Rapid gets 2 extra airbags
– Active and Ambition still do with dual airbags only
– Skoda Rapid rivals the Honda City, Maruti Ciaz, Volkswagen Vento and Hyundai Verna

2017 Skoda Rapid Facelift Side
The Czech automaker gave the Rapid facelift 16-inch alloy wheels and reverse parking camera features on the Style trim in April last year